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The neural response to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the human motor cortex. II. Thalamocortical contributions

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Abstract

Beta oscillations (15–30 Hz) constitute an important electrophysiological signal recorded in the resting state over the human precentral gyrus. The brain circuitry involved in generating the beta oscillations is not well understood but appears to involve both cortical and subcortical structures. We have shown that single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied over the primary motor cortex consistently elicit a brief beta oscillation. Reducing the local cortical excitability using low-frequency repetitive TMS does not change the amplitude of the induced beta oscillation (Van Der Werf and Paus in Exp Brain Res DOI 10.1007/s00221-006-0551-2). Here, we investigated the possible involvement of the thalamus in the cortically expressed beta response to single-pulse TMS. We included eight patients with Parkinson’s disease who had undergone unilateral surgical lesioning of the ventrolateral nucleus of the thalamus. We administered 50 single pulses of TMS, at an intensity of 120% of resting motor threshold, over the left and right primary motor cortex and, at the same time, recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) using a 60-electrode cap. We were able to perform analyses on seven EEG data sets and found that stimulation of the unoperated hemisphere (with thalamus) resulted in higher amplitudes of the single-trial induced beta oscillations than in the operated hemisphere (with thalamotomy). The beta oscillation obtained in response to pulses applied over the unoperated hemisphere was also higher than that obtained in healthy controls. We suggest that (1) the beta oscillatory response to pulses of TMS applied over the primary motor cortex is higher in Parkinson’s disease patients, (2) thalamotomy serves to reduce the abnormally high TMS-induced beta oscillations, and (3) the motor thalamus facilitates the cortically generated oscillation, through cortico-subcortico-cortical feedback loops.

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Author notes

  1. Ysbrand D. Van Der Werf

    Present address: Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, De Boelelaan 1181, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 Rue University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 2B4

    Ysbrand D. Van Der Werf, Abbas F. Sadikot, Antonio P. Strafella & Tomáš Paus

  2. Brain & Body Centre, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Tomáš Paus

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  1. Ysbrand D. Van Der Werf
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  2. Abbas F. Sadikot
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Correspondence to Ysbrand D. Van Der Werf.

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The first author was funded by a fellowship from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).

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Van Der Werf, Y.D., Sadikot, A.F., Strafella, A.P. et al. The neural response to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the human motor cortex. II. Thalamocortical contributions. Exp Brain Res 175, 246–255 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0548-x

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